This invention relates to the combustion of liquid fuel with a porous fiber burner to achieve increased thermal efficiency and decreased formation of atmospheric pollutants.
It is known that porous fiber burners for fuel gases yield high thermal efficiency while suppressing the content of nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x), carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons in the combustion products or flue gas. With the growing need to limit the discharge of pollutants into the atmosphere and with the pressure for greater thermal efficiency caused by high fuel costs, the use of porous fiber burners has been given new impetus.
No simple, practical burner for liquid fuels has been available to give the good results obtained by burning fuel gas with a porous fiber burner. Unfortunately, a porous fiber burner becomes inoperative when a liquid fuel is injected into it. Hence, there is great need to make the combustion of liquid fuel as efficient and pollution-free as that attainable with fuel gas.
Accordingly, a principal object of this invention is to improve the combustion of liquid fuels to yield high thermal efficiency and low emission of atmospheric pollutants.
Another important object is to carry out the combustion of liquid fuels through the use of porous fiber burners.
Still another object is to provide simple and economic apparatus for conducting the combustion of liquid fuels with porous fiber burners.
A further object is to provide a combustion system with a porous fiber burner that can be readily switched from a supply of liquid fuel to a supply of fuel gas.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be evident from the description which follows.